Kendrick Lamar's Favorite TDE Songs

Breaking down big tunes from the Black Hippy brethren.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Breaking down big tunes from the Black Hippy brethren.

This feature is a part of Complex's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" Week..

 

Kendrick Lamar may have the highest profile on the Top Dawg Entertainment roster, but all the members of the tight-knit crew—including Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q—are strong artists in their own right. In fact, it was the group's evident chemistry, captured on mixtapes like 2011's Black Hippy project, that helped forge all four artist's individual sounds. Complex spoke with Kendrick about his favorite tracks from the extensive TDE catalog. And thanks to our peoples at Spotify, this list is a fully multimedia experience. Get familiar.

As told to David Drake (@somanyshrimp)

 

RELATED: Kendrick Lamar's 25 Favorite Albums
RELATED: The Making of Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city
RELATED: Kendrick Lamar in the Studio (Video)
RELATED: Kendrick Lamar: Talkin' 'Bout My Generation (2012 Online Cover Story)
RELATED: Kendrick Lamar Breaks Down His Favorite Cartoons and Cereals (Video) 
RELATED: Kendrick Lamar Covers Complex's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" Week! 

"Ronald Reagan Era"

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Album: Section.80
Kendrick Lamar: "That was just reckless, that was just Compton. That was N.W.A., Cube, MC Ren, Yella, Eazy, Dre. That was them mixed with Wu-Tang, RZA. That was just me combining the East Coast with the West Coast. I thought it was a perfect blend.”

"Ignorance Is Bliss"

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Album: Overly Dedicated
Kendrick Lamar: "I like it just because it gave a different side of gangsta rap. I was talking about the same street tactics that the West Coast will talk about, but at the end of the day I put a message behind it, saying ignorance is bliss. These kids grow up not knowing what they do, they’re just influenced, and they react the same way. I think that was the perfect spin on my style. If you listen to me, it’s very vulnerable at the same time but it has a lot of street antics in it.”

"The Heart Pt. 2"

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Album: Overly Dedicated
Kendrick Lamar: “I think that’s probably one my most heartfelt joints; [that's the] reason why I called it that. Had a lot of emotion, talked about different subjects, about myself, how I feel about the world and where I’m at in my career. I just really spoke on it and I know a lot of people were really feeling it at the time.

“[Recording it was] really just not being confined by a page, just going in the booth and sharing those emotions.  I stop and go as I record and it starts feeling right. You get a feeling where you just spit it out like that. That was the process of recording it.”

"ADHD"

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Album: Section.80
Kendrick Lamar: “I picked that one because it not only did it speak about myself but it spoke about a whole generation around the world that went through the influence. Anybody who knows my music know it really makes a connection.”

"Blessed" f/ Kendrick Lamar

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: ScHoolBoy Q
Album: Habits & Contradictions
Kendrick Lamar: "That’s one of the first times I really heard Q touch on a vulnerable subject, where he really let the listener into his personal life. I never heard him go that deep. That was really one of my favorites for sure. He's unorthodox, really no rules to how he do it. He do something only he can do. Unorthodox type feel, raw. He structures everything right to a point where only he can do it.”

"Nightmare On Figg St."

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: ScHoolBoy Q
Album: Habits & Contradictions
Kendrick Lamar: "Yeah, ‘Nightmare On Figg St.,’ that was just raw, that’s Q’s style. It’s really no faker, just energy. He’s representing where he comes from and it’s really like a reinvention of gangster rap, and how the kids feel today as far as gangster Rap and the energy that’s around it. It represents a whole culture of kids that’s being born today.”

"Lift Me Up"

Not Available Interstitial

 

Artist: Jay Rock
Album: Watts Finest Vol. III: The Watts Riots
Kendrick Lamar: "That’s one of my favorites, just because that’s one of the first songs I heard Jay Rock on on the radio. It felt like we all were on the radio in L.A. My dude Julio G played it, from KDAY. So that was like a big accomplishment for not only Jay Rock but Top Dawg Entertainment as a company.

"His ability to mix aggression and vulnerability at the same time, I think that’s one of Jay Rock’s power points. I think that’s the reason why Top Dawg sought after him because it’s just raw talent. The same type of feel that DMX had, that ‘Pac had, that B.I.G. had, that the greats had. And he’s still developing that.”

"Just Like Me"

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Jay Rock
Album: Follow Me Home
Kendrick Lamar: “He definitely poured his soul out about gangbanging and about being in an environment where you grow up and you see these things. At the end of the day these people be good people. I think that’s real heartfelt, especially knowing where Jay Rock comes from, and being around them and being under them and seeing the influence. He put a lot of pain and devotion into that song.”

"Terrorist Threats" f/ Danny Brown & Jhene Aiko

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Ab-Soul
Album: Control System
Kendrick Lamar: "That’s dope. Just political views about the world today. His balance on being a good person and fighting the evils—it’s all in one song. And I think that makes the best songs, when you’re able to express emotions and then combine it as one. Not only about yourself, but about the world. Where everybody can relate to it. When I see and hear him perform that song the crowd goes crazy because they really feel what he’s talking about.”

"Bankrupt"

Not Available Interstitial

Artist: Ab-Soul
Album: Longterm 2: Lifestyles Of The Broke & Almost Famous
Kendrick Lamar: “I think it’s clever. He was speaking from a standpoint where he's broke, which he was at the time. It was clever as far as using his imagination. He went to rob a bank and put it in a rap instead of actually literally doing it, and just broke down everything he would do [in that scenario]. I thought that was crazy. I think as far as imagination goes, that’s just one of Ab-Soul’s greatest niches as an artist. How far he can expand and talk about a subject.”

Latest in Music